The Invisible Barrier Keeping Two Worlds Apart
In between two of the islands of Indonesia, there’s an ancient line that is both real and…not real.
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Imagine not knowing anything about plate tectonics and realizing that some birds being missing on a random island implied the existence of continents that went underwater millions of years ago. Incredible.
It certainly was a leap of faith. Doesn't really agree with the principle of Occam's razor but happened to be correct nevertheless. Of course, he probably had more evidence than just the woodpeckers, which is why I'll refrain from calling it a lucky guess ;)
@@lonestarr1490 what would be the 'obvious' solution in line with occam's razor in this situation though? the plate tectonics answer probably is not immediately obvious, but I can't think of an easy way you could have explained this difference otherwise
@@saaya8964 Well, for instance, that the woodpecker used to live on those other islands, too, but died out there for whatever reason.
Or that one type of woodpecker had better flight, or that other islands had land bridges at some point, or that it had been brought there at some point. Occam's razor
I feel like this comment saved me 9 minutes
I’m a Dutch biology teacher on holiday in Bali. Currently staying at the coastal village Amed, on the far east side of the island. Looking across the exact Wallace line described in this video, at the island of Lombok. All while watching this video while the sun rises on the horizon, quite close to my sight of Lombok. This was a delightful video with perfect timing.
I guess you played the video immediately when you saw the thumbnail sir
Could you tell me what species are found in Lombok but not in Bali?
And I am looking across the strait from western coast of Lombok. May you have a great holiday! If you have extra time, please visit Lombok and see the nature.
What a coincidence. Have a fun holiday 😊
Just like most Westerners, you'd rather go to Bali rather than more beautiful locations in Southeast Asia because that's all you people know.
I remember my high school geography teacher (in around 1966) doing a little rant about how "the continents do *not* move!". We had no idea what he was talking about because the plate tectonic theory hadn’t trickled out to the general population yet. He never explained but that strange rant stuck with me and only cleared up when I learned about ‘continental drift’ 5 or so years later.
Around the same time, my mother's teacher told the class earthquakes were caused because inside the earth are three giant stone balls that shift around. After all these years, the memory still reduces her to tears of laughter
@@asha4736how ignorant past generations of teachers were
@@AifDaimonand how ignorant current teachers are today compared to the near future, when AI surpasses human intelligence. We will look back at 2023 and laugh at how ignorant people were back then..
@@AifDaimonYou'd be surprised that the quality of our teachers haven't really improved that much nowadays. My highschool teacher believed the moon landing conspiracy theory (that said the event never happened) and the rest of my class agreed with her. It was 2019. It's sickening how science is being underestimated even by educational agents like teachers
@@meiyosei78 heartbreaking
The Wallace Line also influenced the people living in Australia too. Aboriginal Australians and Torres Straight Islanders have lived here for 65-120 thousand years and they were isolated for most of that time and so that’s a big part of why the animal and plant biodiversity is so unique, why the people’s genetics are relatively unique and with big cultural differences too. It’s something I’m only just learning about, but I think it’s really interesting
There was research done on DNA from the original people of Australia surprisingly that DNA resonated with a lot of different cultures I believe even into North America into some of our Indian tribes I believe you can find this information fairly easy it was done within the last decade fascinating because you don’t hear a lot of people talk about it
@@pennymiller2254the pygmies was here before the Aboriginals and is documented evidence of it.
@@pennymiller2254 it's the same with linguistics studies except Polynesian language resembles phonecian language. It's a gap bc of the younger dryas floods. This also includes the linguistic tree of India, its eurocentric too in much of the literature. When you take an indocentric approach Tamil language at the south of India seems to explain even Arabic languages. That plus the submerged temples of South India due to flood 14.5kya. This is an origin bias affecting many branches of science, not to mention most of archeology doesn't take into account geological science like the changing tectonics.
Aboriginals were all over the world
Polynesian language is very different from Phoenician which belongs to the semitic group. Any 'common ancestor' language would be so distant that small remaining similarities are indistinguishable from pure chance.
In Indonesia, we were taught about one other line: Weber's line. It's basically a line east of Wallace's line (between Sulawesi and Moluccas iirc) which separates the Australia + Papua plate with the transitionary islands. So unlike Wallace's only 2 zones (Asia/Sunda - Australia/Sahul) it's now three zones (Asia - Transitionary - Australia)
I think this is an important point that would have been informative to add into this video, such other ‘lines’ helping define such a transitional zone. Also relevant then to that is Lydekker line which similarly is not mentioned. Else I would have like to see a view on what can be expected for future of these creatures with further movements of land masses, changes in sea currents etc.
weber line is highly based on tectonic plates, that was explained as well in the video, but the video doesn't mention the name of that line
I strongly suspect that they considered including it, yet often they simplify things for the sake of being able to clearly demonstrate a core concept.
I also remember it as a pair "Wallace & Weber". As previous comment said, it might be to simplify for better understanding the concept. They did mentions the transitional zone though.
@@sjl197 what is the lydekker line?
Imagine trying to describe to describe to someone from 500 years ago that the movement of rocks creates an invisible line that decides what type of food is available
I don't think it would be so difficult. Most of the people of today who are capable of understanding that concept don't otherwise know anything about geology. You don't need to know any equations, any mineral's chemical formula or crystalline structure, any dating method, not even the difference between continental and oceanic crust in order to understand the very simple concept that continents can move without knowing exactly how (as most modern people "understand" the concept).
I think it would be possible with enough time and effort. People back then weren't any stupider than today, and children nowadays can learn these things even though all scientific knowledge is unknown to them at birth. As long as those people from the past were open minded, they'd probably understand and learn it quite fast. And most people back then were rural farmers living close to nature, so they'd probably be fairly enthusiastic about learning ecology/geology and related things since it would compliment their existing understanding of nature and maybe help them survive better.
Just a bunch of people like "oh yeah if rocks move then why aren't these ones moving?" **points at rocks** If they don't burn you at the stake first for implying God himself didn't place every animal where it was
Some rocks move fast, they even have a dedicated race track.
Not that hard actually.. They possessed the same brains as we did. Gallileo saw rings on saturn around that time...Newton and Leibnitz had a firm grasp of calculuts around that time....Don't count out people of the past....Many things are being rediscovered due to the many wars that destroyed the information. Today though we have the internet to persist athe data.
Did you know the Wallace Line is also important culturally and historically? It marks the boundary between two regions that have had different influences over time, which has led to a diverse mix of languages and cultures in Indonesia. Along our trip with Pinisi boats, we learn about Indonesia's history and culture, including the significance of the Wallace Line in shaping the country's diversity.
Humans were not blocked by the line. Our ancient ancestors were able to cross from Africa to Asia to Australia without any problem .
@@electrictroy2010 countries in Europe have different cultures and influences too even though humans cross the boarders. Nobody said that cultures are maintained by physical barriers that prevent ideas from leaking out.
The line exists; crossing it weaves the two sides together.
Eh not really.. that line didn't differ anything about cultures.. cultures in Indonesia are just naturally so diverse.. they have 500+ cultures.. there's not any line that differs a distinctive feature of any culture.. even in one island could exist many cultures and language so different to each other.. wallace and Weber line only works for faunas and floras..
@@electrictroy2010"without any problem" lol yeah I'm pretty sure it wasn't that smooth sailing bud
As a person who currently live in Sulawesi island, this explains why i found a lot of shell and mollusks fossil on the mountain regions, it even scattered everywhere everytime we dig gravels for construction.
I was going to olele national park in gorontalo, i saw many shells and reef at cliff side of the road, and it high cliff. I wonder how high is the ocean before
@@pustakarileks7404 come to South Sulawesi, take a hike in Bawakaraeng mountain, you'll be even more surprised when you find your first nautilus shell.
Wallace is well known in Indonesia, actually more famous than Darwin. We learn from child that he found the theory of natural selection almost at the same time as Darwin, but decided to let Darwin took the honor. Wallace was depicted as a humble man who prefer focusing on his research instead of fame or prestige. He spent the majority of his life going from one island to another island to pursue his study and interest. Truly a researcher at its core.
And he also encouraged Darwin to publish it without any doubts, talk about academic integrity
yeah, but there were 2 lines.. the other line divide sulawesi island and papua. can't remember the name
@@blackbook2990 webber!
@@blackbook2990 its called the weber line. You're welcome
@@blackbook2990 r u talking about weber's line?
The statement "I'm as old as plate tectonics," really drives home how quickly our understanding of science had grown, and just how recently too.
I didn't think about that, my first thought was that is exactly how I felt this morning. 😅
And how much more await us.
Dude has aged well he looks about 40
science hasn't grown at all. It is only replicating what was known for hundreds of years by ancient platonists, and other pagan theologists
Reminds me to never trust anyone from the 1900's.
In this video, we use Alfred Russel Wallace’s term the ‘Malay Archipelago’. We recognize that Wallace's term perpetuates a Eurocentric viewpoint with harmful implications. In the future, we will do our best to include this important context and moving forward we will refer to the region as the Indonesian archipelago or Nusantara.
You can't make everyone happy so stop
@@dreamersdisease2481 You can’t make everyone happy, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to avoid harmful older terms where you can.
@@zorakj you just proved my point
@@dreamersdisease2481 Was your point that you don’t care how other people are affected by terms that apparently don’t affect you?
@@zorakj can u go away nobody is offended by that nobody cares except people trying to create divisions and problems
For my masters thesis (biology) i am working on tarsiers (small primates) on Sulawesi Indonesia, and my research is connected strongly to biogeography. Nice video, thanks :)
That is so cool
Goodluck on your thesis bro!!
Nice!! Hello, fellow tiny primate researcher! :D I'm all about Malagasy Lemurs, but it's cool to see some appreciation for Tarsiers!! They don't get nearly enough recognition!!
Tarsius... in my village, Central Sulawesi, these animals are starting to become less
There are tarsiers in Indonesia? I thought it can only be found here in the Philippines
I was sitting in 9th grade science in 1960, looking at the world map and noticing how the coasts of Africa and South America seem to fit together. I pointed that out during discussion and wondered aloud if they'd ever been joined. The teacher ridiculed my remarks, declaring it an outlandish idea. Now, whenever plate tectonics is discussed, I think to myself: "Take that Mr. Lee."
How old are you😭😭😭 (no hate just surprised)
@@tracyracy good point
I remember having the same thought in about 2nd grade (1969), and our teacher liked the observation. The idea of tectonics had been around since the 20s, but an explanation that could be taught to young school kids hadn't been hammered out. Fast forward 5 years, and my geography teacher thought it was one of the most fascinating things ever.
@@tracyracy bros almost a fossil
You sir, are a legend. 🙌🏼🙌🏼
My geology prof was doing her thesis defense in the late 60's. One people on the panel asked her a question about tectonics but one of the other members took issue with that. So two members of the panel that was convened to determine if my future professor should get her doctorate in geology... started arguing with each other, and my prof just stood their quietly, letting them run out the clock.
Great comment! I enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing.
Smart candidate. They cant really reject you if theyre arguing with each other.😂
Typical scientists, almost as as theologians, can never fully agree on something 😂
Wait . That is settled science you can no longer discuss it! Demonetize, block, sue.
@@josephpadula2283 of course you can discuss "settled" science. That's how the scientific principle works You just need a lot more evidence to disprove something that lots of other people have found evidence for, and even built other theories on that have lots of evidence themselves
I remember the controversy when plate tectonics was first suggested. Some people insisted that the idea of the continents moving was absurd, they're literally solid rock. A guy named Thor Heyerdahl sailed a primitive raft called "Kontiki" from Africa to South America to establish an explanation for people getting to the new world thousands of years ago. Then someone mentioned "Continental drift", and it was literally a whole new world. I was ten.
Kon Tiki was from South America to Polynesia.
@@everynametaken you're right. I read it 40 years ago.
And continental drift is most certainly NOT how humans got to other continents. Unless you're implying that humans in Africa are a different species than humans elsewhere, because Africa hasn't been connected to South America for millions of years
@@ZanesFacebook you're right. I was just mixing up memories from over 50 years ago.
The earth is continually expanding.
I think its so cool that you might find ancient artic species or pangea species that have now evolved to monitor lizards, cockatoos, kangaroos, etc, in Australia, New Guinea and West Indonesia.
been following your channel since 4 or 5 years ago. Seeing my country being discussed in this video is unbelievable. Anyway, here in Indonesia, the concept of Wallace Line had been introduced since elementary school. Most of us didn't even understand what Wallace Line is. I think Eons has done a great job explaining the Wallace Line.
No it's just YOU and some ppl. Not for me and people like me😅. Dont drag the entire nation because you're stupid.. 😅 Or maybe it's you that dont have interest in natural world back then. But then u suddenly love that now I know wallace, weber, stuff like that. 😅 Jgn sosoan ngeklaim satu indonesia begitu kalo cuma terjadi di kehidupan sendiri atau kelompok sendiri. Sekalian aja ngeklaim orang indonesia suka ngompol karena kamu suka ngompol pas kecil😅. Ga gitu caranya... Ga sopan itu. Dan menyesatkan
Does your goverment try to limit species from one side to the line to the other?
@@Epsilonsama Idk if it worked because there are some introduced to the other side
@@Epsilonsama The government keep watch only the protected species, they rarely works on illegal animal trafficking. You can find some animal from other side of Wallace line in animal market here in Java island
This is a western trick. Line should be called someone native and only god can say truth.
I’m from Indonesia and we were taught this back in elementary school, this brings so many memories back! We had to remember the local species of both sides, haha
I'm from Malaysia. We were never taught this in school!
@@khoahthong4434 To be fair, the main reason we're taught this is because Wallacea is home to several species that are not found anywhere else on the planet today (examples being the Komodo Dragon, the Babirusa, and the Anoa), so to the nationalistic Indonesian political establishment they can be claimed to be distinctly "Indonesian". Scientifically, the reason why they're only found here is because they'd gone extinct in the regions they originally came from.
And because of this, I've become a nerd haha
Trip down memory lane my friend.
Didn't know we Kangaroos were neighbours with Komodo Dragons, until the latter moved west to the Islands (Wallacea). Now we're the most iconic animals in our respective countries. 🇮🇩🇦🇺
While this is part of our Geography lessons back in school since elementary school, I hope we can emphasize more like this video did on how unique the Wallace line is. We also know the Weber line but never understand the impact of species distribution. Thank you for telling us this story.
Love the bloopers at the end :) It goes to show that recordings are seldom perfect on their 1st try and it takes a lot of time to create them. Thank you to the team!
I'm Indonesian. I remembered growing up we learned at school that every island and province has its local iconic fauna. Never knew why it was so diverse, tho. Each animal became sort of a local pride symbol. Ours from Northern Sulawesi is the Tarsius (tiniest primates) mentioned in the video. Curiously comparable to the neighboring island crossing the wallace line, in Kalimantan they have Orangutan which is one of the largest primates found only in Kalimantan and Sumatra but not in Sulawesi. Wonderful, isn't it? Thanks for sharing this video 😊
Kalimantan have tarsiers as well, they're one of the examples of species that crossed the Wallace Line (from Asia to Australasia)
Wait so now ik stupid n you guys are distinguished..sharam. I am petty
Indonesia seems so fascinating from a zoological and geological perspective.
Gitu ya 😮
Cheers bro
I think we Indonesians are the only ones who are taught about Wallace’s Line at school, as well Weber’s and Lydekker’s, but only in passing, as we mainly focus on species difference between Sunda (Asian animals like tigers and elephants), Sahul (Australian like kangaroos and emus), and Wallacean (including Indonesia’s endemic animals like Komodo dragons and babirusas). Looking back, this short video would have made it easier to understand how the differences came to be.
Wallace's line might be mentioned a little in Australian university's ecology unit!
Yeah i was quite surprised reading the comments bc we're learning wallace-weber line in every stage of primary education, so much so to a point that i know what line it is by just looking at the thumbnail and i'm a math major who's graduated in hs in 2019
Well, it could also be that it has to do with that “part of the world”. Were you taught anything about the Alamo in grade school? Chances are that you were not because it has to do with Mexico and the United States, especially Texas.
@@annaolivarez2578 As an Aussie these things are new to me . But definitely knew about the ALAMO . US history is fairly well known outside the US .
@@annaolivarez2578 I agree this third world country feels so high and mighty🤮
As an Indonesian, the way you explained Wallace line is so much more interesting than my geography teachers could ever did lol
I'm from Indonesia and when I was watching the video for the first time 9 days ago I really wished it would do well since well, I'm from Indonesia (especially coming from one the the "black slate" islands), I think Wallace should have gotten more recognition and I love Eons. Fast forward to today and 11 million views later, I'm smiling from ear to ear 😁
I live in Lombok island just realising how contrast our animals are compared to animals in Java and Bali. If only my biology teacher can be this clear and fun, I would love biology more than ever
take every boring biology class you get an d type it into youtube afterwards, you'll learn a lot there too!
Won't that be the Geography teacher's job?
Geografi bang bukan biologi
@@savieraazusa4768 wallace line diajarin d geografi
Nowadays you can learn your school object from other src lie youtube not only from teacher
Blake being born in the late 60's is as much of a revelation to me as plate tectonics would be to Wallace.. I wouldn't have thought him a day older than 1975 at the oldest.
Yeah. He really doesn’t look older than my parents and they were born in ‘74 and ‘76 respectively. Must take real good care of himself.
Same my guy looks great. He actually looks better now than 3 yrs ago
Same bro
Its baffling. Him being 60, that is, not the things about the line.
Fr i was about to mention he looked like he ages in his face But knowing he's 50+ recontextualises this
Apparently, the invisible barrier isn't so invisible underwater. The Balinese side is quite shallow, but as you move towards Lombok, the waters get deep. Very deep.
Thats why people from the eastern side of Indonesia can eat plenty/more variety of fish from deep ocean/coral triangle, fresh and more cheaper than in the western part of Indonesia, while indonesian from the western part of indonesia manly only enjoy fish from the river/lake.
@@DecodeUniverse I just realized that now. Im from west indo, sometimes i go there to meet my grandma. And yeah like u said the fish are more cheaper there than here
@@DecodeUniverse wow that's really interesting
The concept of Wallace's line and its effects on species evolution is fascinating. The explanation of how geography affects species distribution over time is clear and insightful. Thank you for broadening our understanding of the world. Looking forward to more discoveries!
Mr Wallace doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's a giant.
We indonesians learned a lot from him since middle school
Indeed, dude formed the theory of evolution independently of Darwin.
Fr, I've never heard of him before and I'm a conservation ecology major lmao
I strongly agree 👍
Don't forget about his dog gromet
"I'm as old as plate tectonics!" Really? You're in great shape, I'd never tell you have more than 220 million years!
Wallace is the most studied westerner in Indonesian school
I just have to say the script for this video is so well-written and easy to follow! I have never heard of the Wallace Line, and I learned something new today, was super interesting! ☺️
While everyone is saying Wallace needs credit, we all know Gromit did all the work. Wallace just complained about his trousers while Gromit lay the railroad tracks.
Cheese Gromit
Gromit did the hard work of warping reality to pull hundreds of tracks (and curved ones!) from a box that should maybe have ten. Kind of like Legolas and his Never-Ending Quiver.
glad to see people finally pay some attention Gromit, Wallace is useless without him!
i was hoping i'd find a comment like this. thanks lol
I hit like to this but not sure if it’s correct.
Oh, we learned about this in around elementary or middle school in Indonesia. Of course, we didn't learn about it too deeply (like, why did the Wallace line exist, that was for the high school-university level) But, we do categorize Indonesia's fauna into 3 categories. The West type animals (mostly Asian types, with animals that don't have pockets, many types of monkeys, Mammals with large bodies, various types of reptiles and they have many types of freshwater fish) The Middle/Switch type animals (they are a mixed fauna between Asian and Australian types. They're endemic, only found in one area. And consist of fauna that are endangered and very rare.) The last one is East Type animals (mostly animals that are also found in Australia. The mammals have a relatively small body, bird species have a colorful coat color, apes are not found in the forest, There are many marsupials, the Fresh water fish are relatively few, and there are many animals with horns.) Hope this helps!
"Many animals with horns"?? What kind of animals do you mean? (I didn't know about bovids around there.) .... I'm curious now! 😊
That is true! I remember learning about Wallace Line and Weber Line in elementary school. It was fun to learn, and I am grateful to have found this video. Thank you PBS Eons for making this video! @eons
@krokuta3355 I hate to say it, but I've been browsing for actual examples, and despite like 5+ websites mentioning East types has many horns, they never come with examples :( Those I know from the top of my head are Kasuari birds (yes, they have horns for whatever reason there is) and Javan Rusa or water buffalo (except they're not actually natives to East Type Animal, cause they're pretty much exist everywhere in Indonesia) Others came from switch/middle types like Babirusa and Anoa, or west types like Javan rhinoceros and bawean deer.(now these are cool :D) Sorry to dissapoint :( even I didn't expect Indonesians websites & blogs to be this unclear & repetitive about our own faunas
That’s really interesting! Thank you for sharing :)
Luchalibte
I just discovered this channel and I’m in love with the relaxed and educational vibes. I might rest here for a while!
Thanks! That's really amazing. I was always wondering why the Kodomon dragon exist in certain islands of Indonesia, while Southeast Asia is known for many large mammals, they surely would compete for dominance with only one group wins, now I knew why. Thanks again for the wonderful video.
It's crazy to me how much people take for granted the advancements of knowledge in the last 100 years, or even fight against it. I find the information amazing and humbling, and always want to hear more. I appreciate PBS and the impact they've had in my less than 35 years of life so far, especially when everyone around me was screaming pseudoscience and telling me the Earth was 6,000 years old.
PBS misinformation has slowed down progress by design. It's a government channel. 🙄
The best part is creationist can't all even agree on that age range. Some groups go as high as 12,000.
Of course people should fight it, can’t blindly agree with everything or just go with whatever new standard and belief is being marketed to you without skepticism. What’s more humbling is how much the schools of thoughts change over history and you thought this was the truth? Then some new science or belief system comes along
5773 years of existence. What when on prior to that is up for discussion. Just this past week it has been learned the Big Bang hypothesis is wrong.
@@boathousejoed1126 Gonna need a citation for both claims there. Even the "God made everything" demographic is really multiple demographics. EDIT: on a quick search, plenty of things debunking that "big bang disproved" bit, though nothing from the past month one way or the other about it.
Indonesia is easily one of the most biologically fascinating places on the planet, with such tectonic complexity, a dizzying number of islands, land on two continents and a myriad of microcontinents and large islands in the region of Wallacea. Not to mention all the volcanism and mountain ranges, including some impressive calderas and lots of cloud forest! It deserves so much more attention, especially compared to more mainstream rainforest like the Amazon or even the Congo. Such a shame that so much is getting deforested, especially on the side of the Sunda shelf. Someday I hope to visit what's left of the rainforest there.
yup, I always take offence when vegans talk about deforesting in the Amazon, but ignore Indonesia. Sure, it's smaller, but it's incredibly diverse & a much larger percentage of it is gone than the Amazon, so it needs more attention & support to reduce & catalogue & save species - both animal and plant! The diversity of carnivorous plants there in particular is incredible! LOTS of critically endangered plants & animals in that region!
@@mehere8038 And the fact that the deforestation is also often caused by forest burnings to open up land for palm plantations. Honestly, I don't know how big the discussion about sustainability and ethicality of vegan/vegetarian ingredients is, or if it ever touches anywhere near the problems occuring in developing countries in Asia, where quite a lot of them are produced.
The sheer diversity of human cultures there is also amazing!
@@Tamaki742 I've seen some people get pretty angry over products that contain palm oil, but not enough.
Visit my family in South Sumatra by bus last year, it's palm oil trees as far as the eye can see. If you have time and money it's worth to visit, there's still plenty forest left where you can see elephant and orangutan walk around on one side and then giant bird and tree kangaroo on the other side.
one of the best episodes ever. I visited Bali as a kid and I heard about Lombok. I had no idea this lineation existed.
Never even thought of looking for PBS content on KZhead. This was an excellent informative video.
i am sure many indonesians have expressed the good impression about how grateful we're that this channel covered one of the most memorable thing from our geography lesson that we received since we were in elementary school, so i just want to give a prop for using real our beach footages too :)
Those islands are so close, why don't birds migrate between them?
@@ude3333 Hmm it's not as simple as you think it is, there's many factors. Not all birds (I don't know which bird you were specifically referring to, because there's a land bird/non flying bird like kasuari [cassowary] from eastern part of Indonesia) are able to travel that far from the place where they're born and raised, not all birds are like strong migrated birds. Beside, it's already explained that they're two vastly different type of biodiversity, meaning even if those birds had the ability to travel that long, the place where they'd be traveling to might not have food sources or right habitat from them to life. Again, western and eastern side of Indonesia are different.
@@ude3333 In my opinion, it's because the birds feel safe and well-fed in their own habitat. Why migrate when you have enough food to sustain yourself?
@@mahbrum oooh makes very much sense! tropical jungle/rainforest has its own climate and just bustling with life all year long. also indonesia has one of the richest soil on earth hence the dense population (humans and animals alike). but... again, the conditions between west and east indonesia is very much different, so they sustain the lives of very different animals, too. even just the landscape view are so strikingly different...
As an Indonesian I feel happy to have this covered and shown to everyone, especially when you did a great explanation of the Wallace's line. We actually learned this in school! But I was a bit confused, why don't you include the 2nd biogeographical line in Indonesia, the Weber's line, as well? I know you touched upon it a bit by talking about the mostly-middle islands having different faunal composition than its left or right parts (in the Wallacea part of the video), which implies the Weber's line, but you did not explicitly talk about Weber's line here.
Lol, yes I suddenly remember Weber line, I learned in high school Geography lesson
Excellent video, thank you. I'd heard of Wallace and the Wallace line before, but never understood what it was 'all about' until THIS VIDEO! Now subscribed!
I love plate tectonics! So interesting how everything changed and the evolution of the animals was affected/catalyzed.
The Wallace Line is fascinating! IMO, the most surprising aspect of the Wallace Line isn't just that it divides animals and plants from Asia and Australia, but that it also divides the animals found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Being the Line is water, some aquatic animals do swim across it, but interestingly, when a species can be found on both sides, they still show signs of being separated. For instance, the openwater Thompsons Surgeonfish(Acanthurus thompsonii) can be found on both sides, the Indian form has a dark gray tail(can be black depending on mood) whereas the Pacific form has a bright white tail. The Wallace Line divides these forms. Similar changes can be seen in many others as well. If you're familar with marine or reef aquariums, you may have noticed there is a significant and costly difference between "Indian" forms and Australian/Pacific forms, like the harlequin tuskfish or the regal angel. For many of these species, as reef dwellers, they are not able to effectively cross the deep waters found here, but remember, the Thompsons Surgeonfish is an openwater, pelagic species and even it does not effectively cross, allowing the different forms to evolve.
that is interesting!
I was wondering if the differences were as obvious in marine life. Thanks for answering my question before i asked!
I didnt know that. Fascinating.
Wow - interesting! Thanks
Doesn't this imply some action in addition to sunken land? Magnetism for example. Paramagnetism and Diamagnetism invisible yet powerful directors of life. Recall how we are taught about magnetizing a screwdriver? I suggest these animals DNA are actually DIFFERENT BECAUSE PAST EXPOSURE TO A MAGNETIC FIELD.
As Indonesian, we learn about Wallace Line since elementary school. But it never occurred to us how important that subject is
Incredible! Excellent job on this video. Educational, and very easy to understand. Thank you PBS!
man, this really makes me nostalgic and takes me back to elementary school. I forgot there is this Wallace and weber line, I study this when I'm 3rd grader. I remember the first question teacher asked is "Why animals in Sumatra - Java - Malaysia is similar?" and I just answer it with "because it's close to each other" lmao. and then the teacher laughed. pretty embarrassing that I keep remembering it if this Wallace line is mentioned even after 15 years later. at that time I can't tell what is Borneo's and East java's animals so I think its kinda bigger gap to the middle of Indonesia such as Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara, not to mention Papua who has kangaroo like Australia.
I crossed the line four times in my last trip to Indonesia without knowing it. And yes, it absolutely incredible how different is the flora and fauna. Nice video!!
From Bali to Lombok? No big difference these days.
@@Arjunarjunskiy What do you mean no big difference? The animals are the same in both islands?
@@m.moonsie In 1859, when Alfred Wallace drew the line, tigers and elephants still inhabited Bali but were absent in Lombok. Now there's just a couple of bird species that are different. I don't know about the plants though...
Does the line go straight across an island? It looks like on the pic.
What about the video at 5:10 ?? Do you know where it was taken?
"The geological past shapes the biological present". Well-said, Mr. Wallace. Well-said. Cheers from Indonesia! Been following your channel for years. Bless you, Eons!
Mr Wallace probably learned that from the indigenous people
Wallace as the dividing line between Asian and Australian fauna in the Malay Archipelago. Weber's line is a line of supposed 'faunal balance' between the Oriental and the Australasian faunal regions within Wallacea.
Recognized the islands... had a great time in Indonesia :) Thank you
I'm still perplexed at how dedicated scientists are/were. Doesn't matter if they're from the past or current time, all are commendable and deserve recognition.
Wow, I hadn’t realized Plate Tectonic science was so young! Much like the science, you also have influenced the way we see the world by working so hard to share awesome discoveries and ideas, Blake.
It really couldn't gain traction until some other things were proved like the extreme age of the Earth and its mechanism of solid plates flowing over the ductile but still solid mantle.
It was proposed much earlier (1920s I think) by a German meteorologist with no formal training in geology named Wegener who broadly got all the steps from Pangea to today right. He didn't propose any mechanism by which this would happen though, so his theory was very incomplete and was rejected. Only when the nature of oceanic ridges and trenches was understood could the theory be fully accepted.
I did, but mostly because my dad was a geologist
Heck, the library in my elementary school in the early 60s still hadn't caught up and all the geo texts were fullnof rising and falling land bridges. Fortunately Dad subscribed to things like Scientific American and National Geographic...
@@edmondantes4338 IIRC Wegener was reviving & revising an hypothesis that had first been suggested, at least in part, in the mid-19th century. In any case, his work seems to have been necessary to keep the idea alive.
Bali is blessed and iconic for a reason!
Bali and Lombok have different landscape too! If you look at Bali Beaches have many cliff, rocky hillls but Lombok beaches are more greeny hills. Bali landscape have similarities with Java but Lombok more similarities to Flores (Komodo Islands).😊
I Always dream to spend my time to explore lombok.
bali actually greener if weren't overdeveloped, the lombok and neighboring island infact are rocky, dessert and dry lands, it's similar to an Australian biomes, which a perfect go to place to shot a spaghetti western.
@@CadyCadwell Yes Bali generally are greener same like Java. While Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores bit dry and savanna like. I'm initially talking about the beaches. If you look at many Bali beaches like Pandawa, Single fin, Padang 2 and others in Uluwatu are like natural rock formations while beaches in South Lombok like Kuta, Mawun, Tanjung Aan, etc greeny hills ( I mean grasslands) and savanna but yeah it's more dried there.
Very different religions too. The Hindu Animist Balinese culture is much more lively, colourful, artistic and festival based whereas the culture of the Islamic people of Lombok is very dull by comparison. This is why Bali is a much more popular destination for tourists which in itself is a bit of a problem as Bali has become more commercialised; but Bali remains far more interesting as a cultural experience.
@@straighttalking2090 actually when you go passed east of weber line, the majority of locals are infact Christians, the line separate both religion in a major way.
There’s also the Weber line between the Maluku Islands and New Guinea. As an Indonesian, I was taught in school that Indonesia is divided into three ecological boundaries, almost similar to the three time zones. West Indonesia, which is west of the Wallace Line has Asian fauna, while East Indonesia, mostly Irian Jaya, east of the Weber line has Australasian fauna. Wallacea, which comprises of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands east of Bali has endemic fauna.
I would have liked to see this videos mention others who helped define a transition. Is poor Lydekker forgotten in Indonesian schools?
@@sjl197 no, we have to learn about Lydekker’s Line on top of Wallace’s and Weber’s, although mentioned only in passing unless you’re taking the major.
@@sjl197 we don’t know anything about this line
@@leonardowynnwidodo9704the book in school is explained dude but not that much compare to Weber and Wallace line
@@leonardowynnwidodo9704 I did learn about it in high school
Wonderful show!!! Thank you!! Have you done 1 on Devils Lake, WI?? Or some of the spring fed ponds , like 1 off of the County Y, out of Lodi, WI. It has a long history of never going dry or getting any major loss of water. I grew up there are we had easy findings of arrowheads.
Informative and vastly entertaining, especially the ending. Thank you so much!!! 😊
It's so interesting to see how an invisible barrier allows two different worlds to exist so close to each other. On the other hand, we have to create barriers that are not that invisible to save species and to build two words apart on purposes. Our crew recently filmed a project that aims to create a jaguar corridor through South and Central America to save the species. Jaguars lost 50% of their natural habitat, making it harder to find each other and reproduce. Travelling would be fine for them, but the territory they have to cross to reach protected areas are roads and croplands, making everything extremely dangerous for them. On the positive side, the project is already showing promising results.
One of my top favourite Apex predetor.
all one has to do is look up at THE invisible barrier allowing "two different worlds" (Earth is alive; space is seemingly dead) to exist so close to each other...
Hope the jaguar project succeeds!
I first crossed the Wallace Line on an Indonesian ferryboat across the Lombok Strait. I didn't notice different wildlife, though. I am nowhere near as observant as Wallace. There's a person who deserves more recognition.
When I want to worldbuild, I always check Eons for inspiration.
I actually crossed in between the two sides by BOAT, from Bali to a tiny island named Gili Air in the Lambok Archipelago province……. Wow. I myself can’t believe that!
This like is so ecologically interesting. I feel like most people would ask "well what stops them from crossing that line and australian and south east asian animals from crossing into each others territory?" Rafting event are a thing after all. But its not many animals that get displaced by it at a time. So even if they do make it to the other side of the Wallace line, there's just not a big enough population to establish themselves, and they face trying to survive in, a full ecosystem not built up around their species.
Surviving there is easy.Foxes,dogs,cats and rabbits managed to beat the fauna of mainland Australia,and 2 of those are used to wetter and colder Europe.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 Surviving there is not "easy". Invasive species are by definition highly successful in the new environment, but most species who make the crossing don't become invasive. Humans have increased the rate of dispersal events to an absurd degree so even if just a small percentage ends up being invasive that still amounts to a large and concerning number. In nature those dispersal events are far less common.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 Cats and rabbits were introduced in large numbers by humans though. A few possibly injured starved individuals landing on a random beach probably wouldn't have survived long enough to start a population.
@@patrickmccurry1563 That is the "reaching the place" part.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 animals introduced by humans (intentionally or not) have the advantage of being fitter, healthier and more numerous, because humans have done alot of the heavy lifting in getting them there. In the case of cats rabbits foxes etc they were actively looked after by humans, which meant that any potential predator would be killed. In the case of rats, fast breeding and living off humans at first would give an advantage. An animal making the journey on its own would be less likely to be successful as they didn't have these advantages.
Excellent video. Wallace is one of the giants of mid 1800's naturalists. Yet he rarely gets mentioned for his important contributions to science. Nice to see you giving him some of the credit that he truly deserves.
I think that one reason why Wallace is not so well known to laymen is that the creationists who argue against the concept of evolution have been directing all of their verbiage at Darwin. They don't know or don't care about Wallace.
I love that Wallace is getting some love here. It feels like he receives not enough attention
I'm glad I found this channel! So informative!
Here I am, looking at the Lombok strait from the western coast of Lombok. Big thanks to you guys for giving me the insight of the natural beauty in this island where I lived.
I had no idea that plate tectonics wasn't accepted until so late. It always seemed obvious to me growing up, but I was formally taught about it in the late 'eighties by an ageing geology teacher who must have been part of that debate. These things serve as a reminder of just how much we've taken on board as a society in, generationally speaking, an extremely short period of time.
When I was in grade school I was told that the fact that Africa and South America looked like they fit together was interesting, but truly just a coincidence! Plate tectonics explain SOOOOOO much, I can't imagine trying to understand, for example, where I live (coast of California) without them.
That black holes are real and exist is also pretty new. Dark Energy is one of the newest widely accepted ideas, albeit with disagreements over its nature.
I learned about plate tectonics before the 80s. But,I have many religious friends who don’t understand. But I do not ever correct them as they are my friends!!!!
i always love to use how we listen to music as a great example of technological evolution and obsolescence!
It not only wasn't accepted or an unknown idea, it was one of those fascinating old ideas that was "known" to be false. As Melodie says, people had noticed a long time ago that various coastlines seemed to fit together like a puzzle and the idea that continents could move was thoroughly discussed and thoroughly "disproven". What changed in the 40s and 50s was new evidence (from drilling cores IIRC) and some passionate advocates.
We (Indonesian) has learned this on elementary school, thanks for recalling my memory about this study
this is super interesting. my father is a biologist and taught me about how viper snake only live in certain latitude within peninsula Malaysia and never crossed to other latitue even within the same area of forest. This thing practically new to me.
When I was in 4th grade (that would have been 1967) I remember looking at the world map on the wall and noticing that South America seemed to fit right into Africa. I pointed it out. My teacher laughed and blithely dismissed the idea that it was anything more than coincidence. 😏 By junior high school we were taking cutouts of the continents and fitting them together into Pangaea
Yep! You were right! And then see how Africa fits in. Just seems reasonable to me.
I thought it was obvious too, and that it was accepted fact. I'm 4 years older than you. I didn't know the science was so young.
Either over 20 people went through this exact experience or you just stole this comment because I've read this same comment multiple times just on this video... I find it hard to believe all these teachers just thought you kids were dumb for pointing this out but hey their low payed teachers that have the same job their whole life they must be pretty dumb.
I live in Timor, Wallacea. Nearby Flores Island is pretty similar, but very different from Java or Bali, indeed. Even in terms of anthropology and culture.
omg the last lil joke part was a cherry on top of a great lil video. Legit made my day with the pun struggles and being unable to contain ur laughter 🤣i needed a good lil laugh / light hearted moment like that today!
Plate tectonics are so fascinating. The more I learn, the more I want to learn. I recently moved from the Appalachians to the Ouachitas and find it incredibly comforting to know that both mountain ranges were created in the same collision between North America and Africa. In a very real sense, while I’ve moved from western NC to northern AL to central AR, I’ve never lived outside of the Appalachians.
Arkansas State, Central USA
It’s the oldest mountains on earth blue ridge mountains they get the name from a chemical of the trees release when it’s hot outside light refracts it to blue
At school, we learn another line called weber line that separates papua island and surroundings from middle part of Indonesia like Sulawesi and Maluku where the animals are more endemic in this region, such as Anoa, Maleo bird, Babirusa and Komodo itself. These animals are not available both in Sunda and Sahul region
Lydekker’s Line
I am thankful for all the Indonesian students commenting with more information! I have learned quite a bit today. What a fascinating part of the world!
This is one of the most interesting videos I’ve watched in a while. Glad I found this video!
hii, indonesian here. in school we’ve been teached 2 line, wallace and weber. divide indonesia to 3 geological differences
I love how Blake just threatened Callie with HR over her puns!
Not only did I learn something totally new, the Wallace line, I learned more about Alfred Wallace than I ever knew before. Please do an episode about Alfred Wallace's life and works; I'd like to learn more about him.
There's already quite a few videos about Alfred Wallace on KZhead.
Wallace's book The Malay Archipelago is his first hand account of his travels and thoughts in 'Wallacea'. Apparently it never went out of print and I notice the Natural History Museum (UK) stock it £15 hardback. It's an amazing page turner (the depravations he went through are astounding). You can find all sorts of editions - make sure you get one with the maps and illustrations. You can pick up second hand bargains from a few dollars to thousands of pounds. I was given one after watching an Attenborough production, or was it one of his books, but he recommended it and my third addition (bought for me by my partner) is the pride of my books.. and probably about due for a re-read.
@@straighttalking2090 Thanks, I'll look for it. That's cool about your copy!
@@SamStone1964 True, I'll check it out.
I wonder that information about separation of species is so uncommon considering the interest. I, for one, have had a passing curiosity about it for many years. Thank you!
Plate tectonics is probably one of the most fascinating topics in science. Geologic time is mind blowing.
As an Indonesian, I’m shocked to find this being explained on Eons (and much better and more in depth than my elementary and secondary school teachers ever did). I never really thought much of it back then since they kinda forced us to memorize the different animals found on either side of the line but now I can’t help but find it super fascinating.
I’ve always been interested in biodiversity, especially in Indonesia, as I’m Indonesian myself. I didn’t have difficulties learning this kind of stuff. Once, there was a question about this during Independence Day contest, and my classmates relied on me because they didn’t know.
@Leonardo Wynn Widodo you're the smart guy everyone ask questions in class haha
Makanya klo d kelas jangan tidur bae 😂
@@harukrentz435tapi kan emang ngga dijelasin kenapanya kak, cuma suruh ngapal😢
I'm Indonesian living in Bali, we did learn about this in elementary school. Thank you for reminding me of good times of late 80s til mid 90s.
"How can it be real and imaginary at the same time?" Well, that's complex
"How can it be both real...and imaginary." Me: *Having Imaginationland flashbacks*
I've been diving in that water between Bali and Lombok and sitting on the edge of an impossibly deep abyss waiting for deep water fish to pass by. I wish someone had told me I was looking at a continental shelf.
The earthquake experience would be insane on that abyss
This also helps with making sense of the really weird shape of Sulawesi.
Trivia: in Indonesia Sulawesi comes number 3rd in terms of size (after Borneo and Papua) and 3rd in terms of population (after Java and Sumatra)
The special K? Haha
Coolest frickin island there is, been dreaming of some kind of international boat race circumfering the island, making each peninsula as somewhat of a checkpoint
True. Sulawesi is trully unique.
The K shaped island has a lil bro named Halmahera island👀
In the Philippines, Sardinella tawilis (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae) is the world's only freshwater sardine and is #endemic to #TaalLake, Batangas, Philippines. No other place in the Philippines can be found, Just on Taal lake itself. 🤔 very unique! Taal Lake is the third-largest lake in the Philippines and is located in the #caldera of an #ancientVolcano. . How Beautiful the Mother Nature is. Mother nature gives everyone of us distinguishing characteristics that others do not have. So, everyone of us is important to Mother Nature and the environment. Many species are endemic and only found on its unique area or place.
Bring back memories from elementry school days 😭 thanks! Subscribed
Brilliant video I’ve crossed the Lombok straits a few times to the Gili islands and it’s amazing because it’s one of the deepest sea trenches in the planet. Huge swells. Also the dumping ground for plastics that are compressed into giant blocks, loaded onto barges that are dumped into the trench. One of the most disturbing sights I’ve ever seen in my 60 years in this planet.
shocked pikachu
It's all a part of the recycling scam. Another con the world fell for in the name of saving the planet.
Wow, that's disturbing. This needs more attention.
So USA ,in the name of industrialisation who discovered plastics ,should do something to get rid of it.
Have you been to the gili islands. One of them sells magic mushrooms in a restaurant, super beautiful there
OHHHHH , YOU CROSSED THE LINE
😂😂😂😂
I'm ur 69th like😏
This is one of the coolest videos you've done (and you do a lot of cool videos!). Now I really want to visit Indonesia, this sounds like it would be really neat to witness. Two continents for the price of one! I'm sorry, Blake, that you realized you're as old as plate tectonics. It's okay, my parents are older!
I learned this when I was in elementary school, thanks for reminding me of the Wallace line.
I'm a end of 1950s kid (literally Transistor old) - you are doing just fine. Thanks for keeping us informed. Love to all of the Eons team!
That's why Indonesia considered to be one of the most diverse regions in the world. In terms of fauna, flora, even humans 😂
This video gives me flashback of my failed Geography test on this topic lol. We learn this in middle school in Indonesia. Walace and Weber lines that divided types of flora and fauna here.
Those are some really cool plate tectonic visualizations!
Wallace and Weber line is my most favorite thing to learn in school!
Now got to search Webber line in the net
Given how almost every species in Australia are either aggressive or poisonous or both, you'd think the komodo dragon would have stayed there. It would have fitted right in.
There was a form of giant Komodo dragon that went extinct that was the size of a Volkswagen car! They don't know exactly what drove it to Extinction they think it might have been hunting when its prey animal also was disappearing.
He probably didn't chose to leave, the theory is that he was all well, until humans came and probably hunt him to extinction ^^ We don't have the last 300 000 years of fossil record of Komodo dragons, so it's not sure, but it's the last big change there had been in that region that Komodo dragons haven't already survived. The funny thing is some scientists suggest the Komodo dragons may grant their survival on the islands of Komodo and Flores to the presence there of Homo floresiensis (also known as the Hobbit), another species of human that would have probably hunted them, preparing them for the hunt of Homo sapiens, while the other populations didn't had that warning shot ^^
Like indonesia archipelago not either.. 😒 Bruh. Indonesia archipelago, also home to many weird creatures. Including that behemoth moth thing that viral on internet! That video recorded in Indonesia! Not australia. But there are some in Australia too. But we dont call them weird or something. BECAUSE WE'RE NOT EUROPEAN THAT COMPARING LOCAL SPECIES WITH SPECIES IN THEIR HOMELAND, EUROPE Saltwater crocodile there for example, yes it exists in Australia. BUT IT'S ONLY IN THE NORTHERN. While indonesia.. IT'S THE ENTIRE INDONESIA. Indonesia also got their cassowary bird
where on earth do you get "aggressive" when describing Aussie animals? Aussie animals very rarely cause deaths, cause despite their toxin levels, they are extremely happy go lucky & respond to threats with "she'll be right mate" & just wander away! Only people who get bitten by Aussie animals are the ones who absolutely deserved it & asked for it! I mean I'm sitting here listening to what sounds like a flock of pterodactyls as I type (cockatoos), they're everywhere in cities & can easily take fingers off with ease & regularly shred entire verandahs, kids cubby houses or anything else made of wood for fun & are often called "flying boltcutters" cause of the weapons they carry on the front of their faces, but just go look at videos & you'll see Aussies introducing their toddlers to these birds that scared even Steve Irwin with their capacity to maul & toddlers & little kids walking/crawling up to these completely wild birds & hand feeding them, including ones they've never even seen before! Only aggressive Aussie animals are magpies & drop bears, the rest are placid as! There's also ample footage of komodo dragon cousins making their way into shopping centres, cafes etc etc & locals just asking them to leave & if they refuse, grabbing their tails & just dragging them out. Only their size/weight makes that challenging, but Aussies really don't worry about being bitten by our native animals, cause they don't bite us, they only bite tourists from countries that teach their citizens to be aggressive & fight everything! Our animals take exception to that & pull them into line! Anyone not aggressive by nature though, does not have to worry about being bitten by Aussie animals
@@krankarvolund7771 Earth is only 7ish thousand years old.